College Focus: Redefining Student-athlete

College Focus

Ncaa Hopes New Rules Will Eventually Pay Off

January 19, 1995|By DAVE FAIRBANK Daily Press

``We have been left no other recourse but to go to outside groups to bear pressure on young African-American athletes as to where they pursue their future education,'' said part of a statement released by the BCA.

Following the 1994 NCAA Convention, the BCA threatened to boycott games in response to delegates' refusal to restore the 14th scholarship for men's basketball. The BCA withdrew the threat after NCAA officials agreed to discuss the group's concerns.

The BCA has not outlined any specific action.

One proposal adopted allows Division I athletes, except football players, limited offseason skill training. Coaches can work with athletes, at their request, up to two hours per week in the offseason. No more than three athletes from the same team may work with the coach at one time, which delegates hope will provide a safeguard against full-blown offseason practices.

``I don't think there's any question that the potential for abuse is there,'' said Old Dominion athletics director Jim Jarrett, who was on the Student-Athlete Welfare Committee. ``So many of the rules in the book are there because one or two schools violated a situation that was done in good faith, so the rules penalize everybody else. This time we wanted to take the approach: What do the athletes like to have?''

The debate and accompanying legislation over allowing athletes to work with coaches during the offseason is indicative of the complex nature of issues. A similar proposal was defeated by Division II and III schools.

``A couple years ago the info from the students said the coach is on us and we have no free time, so we legislated to give them that,'' Yeager said, referring to the 20-hour-per-week, in-season practice rule implemented two years ago. ``Two years later the student-athletes are coming back and saying we want more access to coaches, so you get kind of a mixed message.

``There's a lot of different sides to a lot of different issues. It gets much more complicated than people think and you can get locked into one idea that may or may not work.''